Eagles' Maclin optimistic about return

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin reacts after scoring a touchdown in the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

PHILADELPHIA --- In the time it took the Eagles to fly to Phoenix, lose to the Cardinals, return, consider the events and ice some injuries, two important things occurred.

One: Michael Vick was placed under day-to-day evaluation by his head coach.

Two: Jeremy Maclin returned to practice, pronounced himself healthy and said he will play Sunday night against the New York Giants.

Who knows how one Eagles development may have impacted the other? Had Maclin played in Phoenix instead of being scratched with a hip injury, would the Eagles have won? Would Vick have been more comfortable with his favorite receiver in the lineup? Would a fresh new quarterback controversy have been avoided --- even if it was one that Andy Reid was quick to smother within hours of setting it ablaze?

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Would the Eagles be 3-0 instead of 2-1?

“I don’t know,” Maclin said Thursday. “I’m not a psychic. I don’t know.”

He’s not a psychic, but he has to know that what has happened in the interim should be a Week 4 boost to the Birds. That’s because he is not a hip specialist, either, but he knows he feels good enough to make a difference against New York.

Though the Eagles don’t have to commit to Maclin before game time Sunday, the wide receiver has been practicing this week. And between workouts at the NovaCare Complex Thursday, he indicated that he could play right away.

“I feel good,” he said. “I feel good, I would play, yes.”

With that, the Eagles suddenly seemed more whole than they did against Arizona. Maclin caught seven passes for 96 yards in a Week 1 victory in Cleveland, then settled for one catch in a triumph over Baltimore in which he suffered a hip flexor strain. He was rested in favor of Damaris Johnson against the Cardinals, but he was not walking with any noticeable limp Thursday. And the Eagles’ coaches have been consistent all week in predicting that their leading 2011 receiver would face New York.

“Jeremy is a great player,” offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. “I’ll tell you that Damaris, while he certainly fumbled that punt return, played well for a rookie. There were some communication problems there as well. I am pleased with the way he is playing for the spot that he has been put into.”

Johnson is a rookie with punt-return duties. Maclin is a fourth-year pro who led the Birds with 63 receptions last season.

Among other benefits, a Maclin return would ease any recently added burdens on Vick, who has been so pressured and turnover-prone through three games that Reid at one early-week point called him his quarterback, “right now.” The implication: That could change. The ripple: A different kind of pressure on Vick.

For that, among other reasons, Maclin is anxious to join the rescue team.

“Just to see the offense struggle in different aspects, it is not what you want to see,” Maclin said. “In that game we just couldn’t get any rhythm. We know they are going to come at us with a whole bunch of different things. Hopefully, we can establish everything early this week and take what they give us.”

Maclin was firm, though, in not spotlighting Vick for any Eagles’ struggles.

“The fact is that we are 2-1,” he said. “You would think we are 0-and-3. That’s not the case. So if you want to say whose fault it is or whose fault it isn’t, there’s lot of things that go into one football play that the average eye doesn’t see. But the people who know football know that nobody is to blame for anything. There’s always protection. There is always route running. There is always the quarterback throwing the ball. There is always handling the ball. So there is never one person who can obviously be causing your team anything like that. So I don’t really like to get into stuff like that.”

By Sunday night, he won’t have to rely on his thoughts to change perception. He can provide an additional target for Vick.

“I feel good, man,” he said. “Yesterday it felt pretty good to get out there. So we will continue to increase the workload as the week goes on. I should be all right.”